Man shot after dead raccoon he was dragging was mistaken for dog, police say

The Mason County sheriff’s office is asking for help tracking down a suspect they say shot and ran over another man Sunday after he mistook a dead raccoon that the victim was dragging down the road for a dog.

The man intended to use the dead raccoon as bait in his crab pot, the sheriff’s office said, but a confrontation over it quickly got out of hand and the victim was run over and shot in the leg.

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“In my eyes, it’s a form of vigilante kind of justice, and it’s inappropriate and it’s dangerous to the public,” said MCSO Detective Chris Liles. “It’s a situation where the suspect kind of thought he could handle the law himself.”

Surveillance video captured the truck, which is a Ford extended cab built between 1992 and 1997 with a dark colored canopy. There was a white dog in the cab.

Jeff Rhoades, a Det. Sgt. with the sheriff’s office, said the suspect might have tried to alter the truck’s appearance after the incident.

Jake Schley, a Mason County man who is friendly with the victim, took cell phone video of a conversation he had with the victim as he was dragging the raccoon down the road prior to the shooting.